Blogging

"Blogging is the hardest thing I have done in my entire life."
 -- Courtney J. Kendricks, of the CJANE blog.


Thanks for the heads up, Courtney. Now memories of every embarrassing, humiliating and heartbreaking moment in my life are flitting around my head. Could blogging really be worse than all of those times? Obviously, since Courtney's been through much worse. (She overcame a body image illness, went on a mission, was a teen, gave birth at home, and cared for her sister's children for three months while her comatose sister -- a survivor of a burning plane crash -- see-sawed between life and death. Plus, her dog died.)


A panel of successful Mormon bloggers then gave short presentations at the Mormon Media Symposium.


Larry Richman spoke on new electronic avenues for the church -- not only for missionary purposes, but for practical day-to-day organizational reasons as well. With lds.org, iTunes, twitter, the online world is providing ever expanding options.

A new mormon message video is produced every 2-3 weeks. Personal progress and Duty to God has become available online. An newly improved version of lds.org will become available on November 30th. And, the Joseph Smith DVD set (about 4 or 5 DVDs) are available on sale for a humble $4.50.

What is the Big Question, Richman asks? How do we make sure people are aware of these vast online resources?

Here are a few responses:
- lds media talk blog
- lds.org site
- personal blogs
-church news
- mormon times
- church facebook pages, twitter feeds
- mormon chanel on youtube.com
- use social media to share these resources
- click "share" or "like"
- word of mouth... little old fashioned but it works too ;)



Courtney J. Kendrick of CJane blog then spoke.
Courtney was possibly my favorite blogger. As I said before, she has suffered her fair share of hardships, but according to her, none of them have compared to blogging. Why? Because no other experience is as open. Some humiliations are shared with a small group of peers, associates, or co-workers, but blogging is open to the entire world No other experience is as open to immediate public response as blogging. Her personal life was attacked and slandered. Apparently, she's wanted to quit no less than 7000, carefully marked and painfully remembered times. However, her blogging does earn enough to support her family! She says she continues to blog for the opportunity to share joy, and in pursuance of life's quest to find happiness, to share it and to enjoy it. It helps her feel just enough purpose to carry on.




Blair Hodges spoke next. Like my dad, he's a big google earth nut. He had fun showing the group how to zoom in far enough to find Elephant herds. One thing he mentioned in particular, more in line with blogging, were "agrigators." Apparently these are the key to getting hits. Obviously something worth looking into...

He also mentioned how the internet has created a more "global image"; people no longer think of the utopic city being just around the river bend. Now, if they are ever curious about the culture and nature of the Philippines, they can simply google it and find out!

Unfortunately, the online world does come with its fair share of "nasties." As anyone who's stepped into the jungle of the World Wide Web will soon know, people can be horrible online. Anonymity -- Hodges refers to it as "meanonymity"-- has a sinister way of bringing out the darkest part of humanity. For that reason, the Church now suggests that you use your real name, instead of choosing to hide behind an anonymous username.

Group Presentation: Verification

Thursday my group presented on verification in journalism. I lead the class game, "Classroom Feud." It was based off of the tv show "Family Feud," and I'll admit, I'd never watched it before. But I had fun youtubing it and learning about the game. This video was particularly entertaining.

We discussed journalism's information role in serving a democracy. Journalists' duty to provide truthful information is an essential part of journalism. If citizens can no longer trust what journalists write about, then journalism will cease to exist as we know it. It will no longer be aiding a free democracy, but serving its own twisted agenda.

Because journalists need to gain the public's trust, proofreading multiple times is important. We suggested the class use a red pen to mark each statement in an article, once that statement had been confirmed and reconfirmed.

Bloggers have permanently changed journalism. In the past, journalists basically the only sources for international or local news. Bloggers should hold themselves to the same codes of ethics, and should strive to ensure that all of their information is correct. Some would argue (I among them, at first!) that blogs are not a credible source of information. Our class has discussed several instances when bloggers posted false information, and newspapers published the information without questioning it. In my opinion, both bloggers and newspapers are at fault in this situation. Both ought to be more responsible about what they publish; however, the newspapers do carry more expectation. Both bloggers and newspapers depend on a following and readership; if they're information becomes discredited, they will lose the public's trust.

Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists.
~Norman Mailer 

 Advertisements… contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
~Thomas Jefferson

Get your facts first, and then you can distort ‘em as much as you please.
~Mark Twain

As a journalist, I never want to earn such a poor reputation. The day the day the entire world views journalism so poorly, will be the day journalists no longer serve a free democracy and abandon their loyalty to the citizens.

Don Meyers Lecture

Don Meyers, a reporter from the Salt Lake Tribune, was our class' guest speaker this week. He had so many neat stories from his experiences as a reporter. He reported on the Crandall Canyon mine disaster of 2007, when three men were trapped in killed in a coal mine collapse. It was a sobering story, especially with the 33 trapped Chileans fresh on everyone's minds. But  this clip offered a humorous relief. It illustrates CEO Robert Murray's quick defense and anger over the "retreat mining" assumptions. Of course, he becomes so wrapped up in telling reporters what he wasn't doing in the mines, that he forgets to answer the real question: what kind of mining was he doing in Crandall Canyon!

Meyers also talked about minimizing harm to those mentioned or effected by your story. It is important to think each source and party that your story mentions. A journalist's loyalty to the citizens includes, above all, those mentioned in the article. I believe this is an aspect of journalism that many people look over. It becomes especially prevalent during these times of war, wartime stories and government secrets dominate the press. Though it is important for the public to be informed of the war, it is also important to protect our American soldiers who are risking their lives overseas, and the citizens and tourists who could all be potentially harmed by tourists. No wonder "loyalty" and "truth" can be such confusing principles!



Finally, here's my favorite "Don Meyers" quote:

"Journalists are storytellers at heart, plus historians with a sense of justice."

I love his descriptions of journalists! I may just use it in our "magnet" project, it's my favorite journalism quote by far.

Military Wife

This is an article assignment I completed for my BYU communication's class. We were told to write a "feature" article, based on someone we knew and admired. I chose to do mine on an old friend, Bridgette Velasquez, whom I knew in elementary school back when I lived in Washington state. She has gone through incredible experiences, and has the cutest family to show for it. :)

Thanks Bridgette Velasquez, Jeffery Raby, Kelly Velasquez, and Dr. Alan Hansen for your help with writing this article.

Military Wife

      It felt cramped in the gym. Children and wives crowded nearly every space of the hardwood floor. Some of the children stared vacantly with glazed-over eyes; they were usually asleep at two in the morning. Others fidgeted with obvious anticipation, their energy almost tangible.  The anxiety and eagerness blanketed the air like a thick fog.  When would the plane arrive?

      For Bridgette Velasquez, 19, a cosmetologist from Auburn, Wash., the wait was the hardest part. Minutes felt like hours, and hours, eons. There was a television, but the show didn’t offer much distraction.

      But then, the screen changed. Now it featured a military plane. Life buzzed through the packed room. The plane was landing!

 Bridgette stared at the screen, completely entranced. Her fiancé, Jeffery Raby, was only minutes away from her. She was finally going to see him.

      Then, it was as if the room exploded. As the soldiers entered the gym, excited toddler-screams erupted from different parts of the room. Joyful tears started as hiccups and then crescendoed into a background buzz of sobs.

      Bridgette searched the teeming room frantically, weaving in and out of eager children, embracing couples, and American soldiers. She found her way to a staircase and began to climb down, constantly searching.

Then she found him. He was looking at her, smiling. It had been seven months since she had seen that smile. It was the one that reached all the way into his eyes, so his whole face was smiling. It was the one that always made her smile back.

She ran to him as fast as she could, although it felt more like swimming as she maneuvered around all the bodies.

And then he was there, in front of her. They embraced. And the kiss? It was like the first kiss all over again.

Bridgette’s story is similar to millions of other women. According to Mark Benjamin, a reporter with Salon.com’s Washington bureau, over a million soldiers have been deployed for war since 9/11. In fact, in 2005 the exact figure had already reached 1,048,884.

Each of those numbers represents a soldier: a soldier with a mother, and sometimes a girlfriend, or fiancée, or wife, or children. That equals a lot of women waiting for their soldier to come home safely. Their story has become an integral, if less explored, part of America’s post 9/11 war history.

For Bridgette, her reunion with Jeffery was everything she had hoped for, but the journey there was far from easy.

They met in May 2009 through her sister’s husband, Kristipher Buchanan, who worked with Jeffery. Jeffery had just returned from serving a year in Afghanistan. Bridgette immediately found him funny and cute, and she loved the way he could make her smile.

Bridgette fondly recalls the day the two met as one of the best dates she’s ever had with him.  They spent the day on a Washington lake jet skiing. After the sunset, they cuddled by a fire and listened to the crackling of the flames.

“We clicked right away; he was like my best friend,” Bridgette said.

Her favorite thing about Jeffery, Bridgette said, is how he helps her feel safe and secure. Bridgette was afraid of having their first baby, Jason Arnold. She was 18 when she was pregnant with him. She came from a religious family, and she had dreams of going to a soccer school.

“It wasn’t the way I should’ve had a kid,” Bridgette said. But Jeffery was beside her, holding her hand throughout the entire pregnancy.

But it wouldn’t last forever.

Jayson was born on December 10^th. Jeffery had to deport – for a second time – on January 28^th. He would be going to Iraq this time.

For Jeffery, watching his first and only son grow up via Skype and Facebook was no easy thing.

“It was hard. I got upset because I would see everyone else doing things I should have been doing with him,” Jeffery said.

He coped by escaping to the gym. It helped train his body and his mind.

“I had to make sure my mind was straight, because if it wasn’t the guys I worked for could get hurt,” Jeffery said.

Jeffery would also go to the church services his military unit provided for the soldiers. He regularly reminded his friend, who was experiencing some difficult times between him and his wife, that things would get back to the way they were once they were all home. A lot of the soldiers in Jeffery’s unit had women and children waiting for them back home, and they would often talk about it together.

Jeffery and Bridgette made sure they Skyped nearly every night. There were only a few times, when Jeffery was out on a mission for a week, when he couldn’t talk to her.

When asked what he missed the most during those long seven months, Jeffery replied, “I missed being able to hold her.”

On the other side of the globe, life was no less painful for Bridgette. Jeffery was gone. She was learning how to be a mom for the first time. And she was going to school.

Depression settled in. At one point, her parents took Jayson for a week, because she couldn’t care for him on her own. Bridgette also began seeing a doctor.

Her largest support, however, was her family.

“I couldn’t have done it without them," she said. "They were always there taking off work to be home with me.”

For Bridgette’s mom, Kelly Velasquez, also from Auburn, Wash., that seven-month period was a difficult time. Kelly helped her daughter cope and adjust by babysitting Jayson while Bridgette was at school and by supporting her daughter however she could. Bridgette also lived with her family, making it easier for herself and her family to help each other.

It was truly a time of family support.

Kelly advises other families who are helping loved ones cope with separation to have faith and communication.

“It’s okay to lean on friends and family. Take help when offered. It’s okay to ask for help.” Kelly said.

The first two months were the hardest for her daughter, Kelly remembered. Bridgette cried the most then.

But, those two months passed, as did the next five. Now, Bridgette and Jeffery enjoy escaping into the Washington mountains to ride quads and dirt bikes. They go on many family outings. For example, they went boating, saw a local hockey game, and took their son to the pumpkin patch to celebrate his first Halloween month. Each day their own relationship – and their relationship with little Jayson – grows as they build love and memories.

Alan Hansen, a psychologist in Provo, Utah, advises any long-separated couple to be patient and take time to rebuild their relationships.

Hansen suggests that couples prioritize all their relationships. If they are religious, he recommends they put their relationships with God, their spouse, and their children above all others.

 Time needs to be budgeted for their top-priority relationships, Hansen advises couples.

“Take time to pray and meditate," he said. "Take time to talk as husband and wife without having other distractions. That may mean getting a babysitter and making sure you have a weekly date together, as well as a daily conversation when the baby is asleep.”

For military fathers who are building relationships with children, Hansen recommends taking personal father/child time as well.

“Dad might want to schedule running errands with his son [or daughter] or have a daily fun interaction or McDonald’s breakfast once a week or something that allows them a little one on one time,” he said.

To the millions of women who have loved ones serving overseas, Bridgette also has some advice:

“Find a hobby. Get all the support you can. Write in a journal, it helped me. There are support wife groups out there that help you talk to people who have gone through [the separation] before. It’s hard but you feel good about yourself and it just makes you stronger.”

And indeed, for Jeffery and Bridgette, the experience has made them stronger. And for Jeffery, the best parts about being back home are also the simplest of parts of life: being able to hold his son whenever he wants, and waking up each morning next to the love of his life.

Loyalty in Journalism

“Call it loyalty, call it what you want, but I suppose I've got people up here who I'm really tight with, we've made a lot of great bonds over the last few years and I've got people in my corner I can trust.” 

– Jonathan Brown

Loyalty is the bond that holds relationships together. Loyalty requires two basic ingredients: love and respect. Where do we see loyalty in society? Loyalty holds a family together. It holds businesses together. It holds sports teams together. It holds communities and even entire countries together. As individuals, we find ourselves bound to many different loyalties, of varying strengths and importance, simultaneously.

           

              But to whom are journalists loyal to?

To the citizen.

This article, written by Tom Rosenstiel, reporter of the Boston Globe, expresses this importance, along with journalists’ changing role in today’s technological society.

“A journalist's loyalty to his or her audience, even above employer, is paramount,” Rosenstiel said.


In order for journalists to be loyal to the citizen, or audience, as Rosenstiel said, they need to be completely and irrevocably dedicated to the truth. Journalists have to tell a story for the benefit of their audience, and not for the benefit of their pay check. Journalists need to hold themselves to a much higher standard of ethics than any other profession.


Elphaba, in the smash hit musical Wicked, understood completely the importance of choosing to be loyal to the citizens and to the truth.  Unfortunately, Glinda chose to be loyal to the Wizard in order to gain fame, and additionally, a very large paycheck. Disgusted, Elphaba accuses her of "[groveling] in submission / to feed [her] own ambition." 
The Wizard of Oz, along with his secretarial side-kick Madame Morrible, represented a distorted and twisted media. They held biased views and used the press to push for their own personal propaganda, in order to spread their own fame and to discredit any competition, especially Elphaba. Though Elphie could have shared in the fame and money, she understood that Oz needed the truth. She was loyal to the citizens of Oz, and not to her potential employer, the Wizard, or even to her own lifelong dreams to work in the Emerald City for the Wizard. She expresses this perfectly in the moving song, "Defying Gravity."


"I'm through accepting limits 
'cause someone says they're so. 
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know!" 
Elphaba, in Wicked


Like Elphaba, all journalists need to be fearless in their loyalty. 

Bias: A Bane or a Benefit?

Today's reading and group presentation were centered on bias in journalism. Having bias prevents the truth from being presented in an honest and accurate way. "Journalism's first obligation is to the truth." Unfortunately, not only is truth the first principle of journalism, it is also the most confusing one (according to our class handout). Why is truth so complicated? I believe it is because, despite being fundamental in professional and religious aspects, truth can also be misleading. According to my religion, God's truth never changes. However, man's truth does.

Take this, as an example. During World War II, Hitler was able to use his charisma to convince countless people that killing the Jews was a righteous endeavor. Because journalism in Germany follows a Democratic Corporatist model (one of the three media system models we studied) Hitler had more power through his nation's press. Without an unbiased press to act as the public's "watchdog," he was able to spread his personal vendetta across the nation like wildfire.  For the people that supported him, Hitler's creed was their "truth." It was not the truth to many other people, however, and so a war began over the "truths" of two different factions.

However, everyone has opinions; it makes us unique as individuals. Our personal beliefs define us. But, we must keep our biases from polluting our writing. Journalists should honor their duty to the citizens by keeping their obligations to the truth. Now, articles should have personality. Today's journal article hardly compares to America's first newspaper articles. In order keep an audience's attention, it is encouraged to instill a level of humanity and personality in journal writing. Having said that, journalists should not let their engaging writing style mask a personal agenda. They should not write with bias. They should not, under any circumstances, lie.

Besides, every lie is caught.

Knockwurst, Anyone?

Personally, I wish that every school assignment was a project. Essays are ok, tests, definitely not. But projects are expressive, creative, and fun! In my Media Writing class, our first project was a road trip article. I went to a local festival called Swiss Days in Midway... tell me what you think!

MIDWAY, Utah. - The young boy entered the Swiss Days festival with eager anticipation. Bright colors and delicious smells surrounded him, tempting and inviting. On one side, kids ran and jumped in an inflatable bounce-city that sported a larger-than-life Spiderman and a Disney princess tower. On the other side, children’s voices sang lighthearted Swiss songs that echoed from a distant stage. But this boy’s eyes were trained on a small booth off in the distance. He pulled on his father’s sleeve with tangible energy, dragging him full-force towards a tantalizing, succulent scent: Swiss pies.

     In the late 1940’s, Swiss Days began as a celebration of harvest, when local farmers and ranchers would gather at the end of the season to enjoy the food and festivity of their “Harvest Days.” After several years, the name and theme were changed to Swiss Days in order to incorporate the town’s unique ancestry and to attract larger crowds to the event. Even after 60 years, however, Swiss Days remains, as always, a festival of food.

      Gania Harshbarger, 43, a tourist from Provo, Utah, who visited Swiss Days with her family of six on their way to a camping trip, found the food the best part of the festival.

      “My Knockwurst sandwich is the most authentic food you can find at Swiss Days,” she said through flavorful mouthfuls, “It’s delicious.”

      Other guests, on the other hand, specifically chose their food selection because of its non-Swiss resemblance. Joshua Hansen, 19, also from Provo, said he picked his Swiss taco simply because it reminded him of a Navajo taco.

      The community worked hard to make sure all locals and tourists were abundantly fed. With their constant commitment, the outdoor food court became alive with enthusiastic children, bustling strollers, and, of course, the sigh of satisfied foodies.

 Each booth beckoned to the crowds, gathering quick-paced lines of hungry guests. The festival’s “World Famous” Swiss Tacos attracted a line that snaked in between tables and booths for nearly half an hour. Knockwurst sandwiches and Kraut dinners offered a more traditional Swiss fare, as well as the homemade Braztzilies – Swiss cookies – that were sold at surrounding stalls. A centralized booth fried hundreds of fresh scones, with which the pleased populace lathered spoonfuls of honey-butter or berry jam.

      The pie booth, the fervor of the little boy, however, was not localized. Out of the way, though many people visited the stall, the crowd was significantly smaller than those at the other vendors. But the boy instinctively knew that this booth would be incomparable.

 Nestled between the Swiss dogs and the Swiss shaved ice, the pie booth was saturated with sugary sweet scents. Rows of thick slices of berry, peach, apple, rhubarb, pumpkin and pecan snuggled in crowded racks. Tourists pined over the selection of decadents, struggling to make a decision. The most popular pie, Berrylicious, had already sold out by late afternoon.

      Lamont Jones, 53, a local of Midway and runner of the pie booth, personally recognizes food’s fundamental role during the festival. For the past 12 years, Jones has spent each Swiss Days dishing out plates of steaming pies and hamburgers to the thousands of locals and tourists who come every year.

      When asked what was his favorite part of the Swiss Days festival, he said, “Seeing all the people, and all the activities that are going on. And also, community; it’s pretty cool to see everyone show up and come together, it’s pretty neat.”

Social Media and the Future of Journalism

Group 2 led the class discussion on social media and its effects on journalism. They defined the difference between yellow journalism and citizen journalism. Yellow journalism relies on "sensationalism" instead of facts, whereas citizen journalism relies more on social opinion and the community's participation. Citizen journalism has several advantages: more coverage, because more people are participating in the reporting' the coverage tends to be more intimate and deeper, because citizens tend to report on things that matter deeply to them; and it has a subjective viewpoint. The downsides are the information overload, the information triaging, and the ethical and professional objectivity. Consequentially, the public should consider how they find what is relevant, and how they verify that information. While the role of journalists  is in "providing citizens with an accurate and informed picture of people and events," citizens and bloggers hold no such ethical duties. I feel that this is the most important difference between true journalism and citizen journalism, and the important reason why true journalism must survive. Information is powerful, but it can also be dangerous if misinterpreted or misrepresented.

On a brighter note, Group 2 then listed ten reasons why there is still a bright future for journalism:

1. More access to more journalism worldwide

2. Aggregation and personalization satisfies readers

3. Digital delivery offers more ways to reach people

4. There are more fact-checkers now than ever in the history of journalism

5. Collaboration…

6. More voices are part of the news conversations

7. Grater transparency and more personal tone

8. Growing advertising revenue online

9. An online shift from print could improve our environmental impact

10. Stories never end.

Because nearly all citizens originally get their stories from journalists in the first place, I don't believe that journalism will ever die out, but I do believe that over time it will merge with other social media sources. The world of information is moving online, so eventually that is where everything will go. In yesterday's issue of the New York Times large-city restaurants are providing iPads that feature their extensive wine listings, in order to provide guests with detailed information on each individual bottle, along with thousands of customer reviews. I can see a day in the future when textbooks will be purchased and available through iPads or other electronic sources, where the news will all be online, and where books can be rented through online sources and viewed online. However, just as JSTOR is far more reliable and in-depth than wikipedia sources, I believe that bloggers will never hold the reliability, thoroughness, and dependability that journalists hold. While journalism may move to another medium, it will continue to exist.

What is a journalist?

            Journalism is the art of delivering unbiased news about the world and society we live in – and since that world is constantly changing, the concept of journalism and those who report it is equally fluctuant. The traditional idea of a journalist is an energetic and usually charismatic individual who carries an itching curiosity and a desire to make a difference in their world. They are good writers and love to be with people and experience new things. Journalists need to be honest and unbiased, so that they deliver truthful and reliable stories.

While today’s journalists still deliver these traditional stories and portray these traditional behaviors, the changing times has given them much more creative liberty. The arrival of the Internet has introduced a new form of competition in the world of journalism, so journalists have a greater pressure to capture their audience’s attention in order to keep viewers or readers interested. This adds an element of entertainment to the traditional definition of a journalist. Group one captured this concept perfectly in their demonstration, especially with the rapping weatherman video-clip.

Group One delivered a well-constructed lesson. They led the discussion with enthusiasm and were very entertaining in both their demonstrations and their lectures.  They found well-pertaining video clips and were able to creatively tie in a common game into their lesson: comparing candy bowls with profit. Because media is a business, it caters to its viewers and what the audience wants. As Group one discussed, there are three types of audience viewers: 1) an involved public, 2) an interested public, and 3) and uninterested public. Media will cater its stories to either of the first two groups, in order to remain in business and continue delivering news. Group one tied this lesson in well with the game and the clips.

Because of this need to deliver to the public, being a journalist can be a catch-22. On one hand, journalists want to deliver stories they believe the public needs to hear; on the other hand, in order to finance the newspaper or station they work for, journalists deliver stories they believe the public wants to hear. 

Journalism

This is my first semester as a Pre-Communications major at Brigham Young University, and I'm excited! It's great to be taking major-specific classes instead of GE's. Generals add a sense of finality to college life; major classes, on the other hand, lend themselves to the future. You can't help but fantasize, "I'm going to use this concept, or this chapter, in my such-and-such career."

Well, my first assignment in one of my first Communications classes is to keep a blog. I created a blog about a year ago for a technology class I was taking, but it ceased as soon as the class did. So this time, instead of gearing specifically and exclusively on the class, I plan to theme this blog on travel tips and tricks and articles.

So, first question: What is journalism?

In my opinion, journalism addresses and reports current events accurately. Its purpose is to educate society on both local and global events, whether political or entertainment-based. Journalism must be reported in a timely manner: if an article is on the ten best foods to serve at a family reunion, it needs to be printed during the beginning of summer. Journalism also needs to be reliable. This, I believe, limits journalism to newspapers and magazine sources, and reliable news internet sites. Blogging, on the other hand, is understandably more questionable. I believe that it can occasionally be a source of journalism, but the reliability is far more questionable. Information gathered on a blog should be questioned, whereas the facts stated in newspaper reports are more reliable. Of course, facts can be misrepresented in order to tell a certain story, but that is not the role of a journalist. 

In that case, who are journalists? What is their role?

I believe journalists are reporters of events. They are committed to presenting the truth about the world. They are curious about their society and the world they live in. They strive to better society through the media they provide. While many magazine and newspaper journalists do care about reliability and their own affect on the world, bloggers can be anyone, and they can follow any agenda. They aren't guided by any codes of ethics. They can be biased or spread rumors. They can be opinionated or uneducated. While a blogger can be a journalist, being a blogger doesn't automatically make one a journalist.